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LSC and Public-Private Partnerships

Through its Campaign for Justice, LSC has developed several privately funded projects to expand access to justice and enhance the work of the 133 LSC grantees providing civil legal assistance in every state in the country.

Project: Data Collection ToolkitFunder: Public Welfare FoundationDescription: Utilizing continued funding from the Public Welfare Foundation, LSC will develop in-person and online trainings for legal aid providers on LSC’s outcomes-measurement toolkit. LSC is currently developing a self-guided, interactive e-learning course on the outcomes-measurement toolkit in order to teach legal aid providers how to collect, analyze, and use outcomes data to improve client service and program effectiveness.

Project: Midwest Legal Disaster Coordination Funder: Private FoundationDescription: With financial support from an anonymous foundation, LSC awarded grants to Iowa Legal Aid and Legal Aid of Nebraska to establish programs and relationships in their respective states that enhance the delivery of legal services to low-income people in the event of disasters. Both programs are currently at work building relationships with the disaster response and preparedness organizations and developing policies and procedures that allow for greater awareness of and access to legal aid during and after disasters.

Project: Midwest Legal Disaster Coordination IIFunder: Private FoundationDescription: With financial support from an anonymous foundation, LSC and its grantees will address the core challenges in providing legal services to low-income disaster survivors in rural communities through multiple methods, including: engaging the faith-based community as a key partner in connecting disaster survivors to legal services providers, providing training and support to the ten states in the Midwest Disaster Area and developing targeted materials, and building relationships to support disaster preparedness with four Native American tribes in Nebraska.

Project: Data-Driven Management for Civil Legal Aid ProvidersFunder: Public Welfare FoundationDescription: This two-phase project, which is funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, encourages LSC grantees to use outcomes data when making business and operations decisions in order to deliver more effective and efficient civil legal assistance for low-income Americans. LSC has developed an online toolkit on outcomes measures in civil legal assistance and will soon launch a series of e-learning modules to train on outcomes. LSC will examine which outcomes data its grantees currently collect and use and develop key recommendations for LSC grantees on collecting and utilizing specific outcomes data in order to drive strategic and resource allocation decisions.

Project: G. Duane Vieth Leadership Development ProgramFunder: Arnold & Porter FoundationDescription: Thanks to a generous five-year pledge from the Arnold & Porter Foundation, LSC is funding its first national grant initiative to support leadership training and development for civil legal aid providers. LSC awarded grants to seven legal aid organizations including Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, California Rural Legal Assistance, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Indiana Legal Services, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, New Mexico Legal Aid, and Legal Aid of Wyoming.

Project: Statewide Legal Aid Website EvaluationFunder: Ford FoundationDescription: The Ford Foundation’s two-year grant allowed LSC to assess the accessibility and usability of each state and territory’s statewide legal aid websites, which currently differ in terms of quantity and quality of information. LSC and its partners identified best practices for statewide legal aid websites and offer recommendations for replicating the content and features of the websites deemed most effective.

Project: Rural Summer Legal CorpsFunder: LSC through privately raised moneyDescription: In partnership with Equal Justice Works, LSC has established a new fellowship program that aims to improve access to legal assistance in rural areas by recruiting capable law students to serve as fellows at rural legal aid providers each summer. The program and will ultimately increase the availability of legal services to low-income people in rural areas, develop law students’ skills in serving low-income and rural clients, and increase rural legal aid programs’ ability to recruit highly qualified law students and new attorneys.

Project: Planning Grant to Partner with Public Libraries to Improve Access to JusticeFunder: Andrew W. Mellon FoundationDescription: This planning project, generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, established the essential components of a curriculum to train public librarians to assist people with civil legal needs. This project intends to lay the necessary groundwork to transform public libraries into hubs for accessible and useful information about civil legal matters for people who cannot afford a lawyer.

Project: 2017 Justice Gap ReportFunder: William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Kresge FoundationDescription: With support from two funders, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Kresge Foundation, LSC produced an updated national report documenting the “justice gap” – the difference between the need for civil legal services and the resources available to meet that need. LSC's update from its 2009 Justice Gap report uses new data to compare states, urban versus rural needs, and areas of the law that are most underserved to inform resource-investment and advocacy priorities for access to justice stakeholders.